illustration of the use of English history and of stories of revenge.
To understand the full importance of the attempt to domicile Seneca in
England, we must turn to the universities. Two English plays, which would
be of interest, have not been preserved, "Ezechias," a tragedy by Udall,
acted in 1564 at Cambridge, and "Palamon and Arcyte" by Edwards, the author
of "Damon and Pithias," acted 1566. These are the only English plays at all
tragical that are recorded; but the practice of giving Latin plays
continued and grew in popularity.[5] We hear of "Dido" and an "Ajax
Flagellifer," apparently a translation of Sophocles, both in 1564, and a
"Progne" in 1566. The extant Latin tragedies are of a later date. Gager's
"Meleager," "Oedipus," and "Dido," all acted in the early eighties, are
modeled strictly on Seneca, the first two showing direct borrowings. In the
fragment which we possess of the third, the ghost of Sichæus appears to
warn Dido, and is followed by the storm, represented, we learn, by sugar
for snow, sweetmeats for hail, and rose-water for rain. Gager's "Ulysses
Redux," acted in 1591, a little beyond the limits of our period, presents a
somewhat freer treatment of the Senecan form, the number of characters and
of scenes being larger than in the earlier plays. Of uncertain date are a
"Herodes," which takes the form of a revenge play introduced by the ghost
of Mariemma, and "Solymannidæ" and "Tonumbeius," which apply Senecan
methods to Eastern instead of to classical atrocities. "Roxana" (1632),
acted before 1592, is a translation of "La Dalida" of Luigi Groto, and won
some contemporary distinction and the praise of Dr. Johnson two centuries
later. It is a revenge play with a ghost, combining Senecan gruesomeness
with the motives of romantic comedy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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